Sheriff Joseph Arpaio: Lawman Fights Crime in Maricopa County, Arizona

Dubbed by the media as "America's toughest sheriff," Joseph M. Arpaio has earned his way to the top of the nation's fourth largest sheriff's office. After his successful campaign to become Sheriff of Maricopa County in 1992, Sheriff Arpaio has also been successful at earning the public's approval ratings and continues to be re-elected in the Arizona county.

Before, the controversy of inmates allowed to enjoy numerous pleasures behind bars hardly seemed a consequence or punishment.

"The public is my boss, so I serve the public." stated Arpaio. And that's when the Sheriff came out with incredibly unique programs for the inmates.

After having over 10,000 inmates under Arpaio's watch, in August of '93, the sheriff had opened the nation's largest Tent City for convicted criminals.Two thousand convicted men and women serve their sentences in a canvas incarceration compound. Here is where the inmates participate in the "chain gangs", where they contribute to free labor of community projects, such as cleaning streets, painting over graffiti. Here is where the birth of the first female, as well as juvenile chain gang were created. These actions have attracted the attention of presidential candidates, government officials, as well as the media around the world. He didn't stop there.

Also under the rule of Sheriff Arpaio, he banned weights, smoking, coffee (because it has no nutritional value), pornographic magazines, and only allow G rated movies, as well as The Weather Channel. (To tell the inmates what the weather will be like for the day), as well as CNN, Animal Planet. His jail also serves the cheapest meals in the U.S., where the menu is bologna sandwiches and the average meal costs 0.15 cents, and also has prohibited the serving of salt and pepper, to save the taxpayers $20,000 per year.

One of the most well known program that was conducted under Sheriff Arpaio, are the pink boxer shorts that all inmates are provided with. Years ago, the Sheriff learned how inmates were stealing white boxers, as well as handcuffs. In retaliation, Sheriff Arpaio had confiscated all shorts, socks, and sheets, and had them dyed pink. He also took his behalf to order pink handcuffs as well, having everything the inmates wear the color pink, except for their black and white prison uniforms.

With temperatures reaching up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit, an inmate complained about how it felt as if they were being held in a furnace, and how the Sheriff was treating everyone inhumanely. The Sheriff was quick to retort. In front of all of the inmates, he had stated that his prison was not, "the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like being here, don't come back!" He granted permission for all of the inmates to strip down to their boxers on the hot days. "It's 120 degrees in Iraq where are soldiers are living in tents, too. They have to wear full battle gear, and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!"

One of the most controversial programs by Sheriff Arpaio, would be a website launched by the sheriff , all those arrested, are recorded onto the website, and are booked and processed into jail. Just under a million hits daily come into the website, making it one of the most visible law enforcement sites on the World Wide Web.

Along with these tough measures, Sheriff Arpaio had also created rehabilitative programs like "Hard Knocks High," the only accredited high school under a Sheriff in an American jail, and ALPHA, an anti-substance-abuse program that has greatly reduced recidivism. This helped promote "the posse", a large group of volunteers, (about 3,000 working under Arpaio) who contribute their time and effort to assist the police department in search and rescue and other traditional police work as well as in special operations like rounding up deadbeat parents, fighting prostitution, patrolling malls during holidays, and investigating animal cruelty complaints. The posse's contributions are invaluable and essentially free to taxpayers.

In 2005, Arpaio made it mandatory for two week long English classes given to non English speaking inmates. Each class is two hours long, and also educate about the U.S. government, as well as learning the lyrics to, "God Bless America", and each inmate would have to pass a test at the end of their course. When critics would oppose, Sheriff Arpaio simply stated, "These inmates happen to be incarcerated in the United States of America and in Maricopa County where I run the jails, we speak English here, not foreign languages."

In May 2007, entertainment press reported how Arpaio offered the Los Angelas to transfer Paris Hilton to the Maricopa County to serve her jail sentence. However, his invitation was "respectfully declined."

As the chief officer of the county, today Arpaio continues to reduce crime with his strict methods. His deputies and detectives have solved several high-profile murder cases, including nine child murders. His leadership and the excellent work of his staff have catapulted the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office into the ranks of elite law enforcement agencies. Many citizens, as well as criminals have asked the question, 'Is he done yet?'

According to his book, "America's Toughest Sheriff: How We Can Win the War Against Crime", Arpaio looks forward to many more years as Sheriff of Maricopa County.

Sources:

"America's Toughest Sheriff: How We Can Win the War Against Crime" by Joseph M. Arpaio, and Len Sherman
CNN http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/27/tough.sheriff/
Wkipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio
www.MCSO.org